We understand that this is a difficult time for many individuals and organizations in our membership but wanted to give an update concerning the 50th ISHA Conference, scheduled for October 21-23, 2020, at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI. The Conference Committee has been meeting diligently and is still planning and preparing for the conference on that date. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic impact on many of our organizations, we are also aware that hosting our conference as we have historically done might not be a possibility this year.

A determination on whether or not the 50th ISHA Conference will take place in Newport in October 2020 will be made by the ISHA Board of Directors no later than August 15, 2020. Until that determination is made, the Conference Committee will continue to work as normal to host the Conference during the regularly scheduled time.

If we cannot host the 50th ISHA Conference as scheduled, provisions will be made for a “virtual conference” this year.

Regardless of how it happens, the ISHA Conference Committee is determined to provide the membership with the best possible continuing education experience that we can. We continue to monitor the Covid-19 situation and remain hopeful that we will all be able to get together in Newport while also preparing for virtual education sessions. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, about this year’s 50th ISHA Conference, please don’t hesitate to call or email anytime.

The International Sports Heritage Association recognizes this is a trying time for the world. The Covid-19 virus has interrupted our normal daily activities, which includes the closing of most of our cultural institutions. We encourage sports museums to adhere to state and federal guidelines regarding the virus as we all must do our part to slow its spread. The health and safety of guests and staff is of utmost importance. Each ISHA member institution will make its own determination on what is best based on local recommendations. The status of many sports museums is listed below, but please know that these are subject to change on short notice as the situation remains quite fluid. If you are sports museum visitor, please check an institution’s website to confirm its status before visiting. This list is compiled as of Monday, March 16 though some status reports are from Friday, March 13. So again, please check websites for up-to-the-minute information.

Below is also a link for member institutions to reference in terms of expectations:

https://www.colleendilen.com/2020/03/16/special-how-covid-19-is-impacting-intentions-to-visit-cultural-entities-data/

Australian Sports Museum (East Melbourne) — Closed

University of Iowa Athletic Hall of Fame (Iowa City, IA) — Closed

National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (Knoxville, IA) – Open (no events)

The American Sport Art Museum and Archives (Daphne, AL) – Closed

The British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame (Vancouver, BC) – Closed

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (Woodbine, ON) — Closed

The Sports Museum (Boston, MA) – Closed

NCAA Hall of Champions (Indianapolis, IN) – Closed

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame (Macon, GA) – Closed

Olympic Museum (Lausanne, Switzerland) – Closed

Negro League Baseball Museum (Kansas City, MO) – Closed

Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (Calgary, AB) – Closed

Pro Football Hall of Fame (Canton, OH) – Closed

Kansas Sports Hall of Fame (Wichita, KS) – Closed

Patriots Hall of Fame presented by Raytheon (Foxborough, MA) – Closed

49ers Museum (Santa Clara, CA) – Closed

Packers Hall of Fame (Green Bay, WI) – Closed

Vikings Museum (Eagan, MN) – Closed

Hockey Hall of Fame (Toronto, ON) – Closed

USGA Museum (Liberty Corner, NJ) – Closed

Penn State All Sports Museum (University Park, PA) – Open (fluid)

British Golf Museum (St. Andrews) – Closed

National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum (Stillwater, OK) – Closed

Texas Sports Hall of Fame (Waco, TX) – Closed

St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum (St. Louis, MO) – Open (No stadium tours)

College Football Hall of Fame (Atlanta, GA) – Closed

Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (Nashville, TN) – Closed

Alberta Sports Hall of Fame (Red Deer, AB) – Open

Colorado Sports Hall of Fame (Denver, CO) – Closed

Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum (Baltimore, MD) – Closed

Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame/Museum (Regina, SK) – Closed for renovations

Canadian Golf Hall of Fame (Oakville, ON) – Closed

World of Little League Museum (Williamsport, PA) – Closed

Oklahoma Sports Museum  (Guthrie, OK) – Closed

Bear Bryant Museum (Tuscaloosa, AL) – Closed

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame (Beavertown, OR) – Open (fluid)

Braves Museum and Hall of Fame (Atlanta, GA) – Closed

Baseball Heritage Museum (Cleveland, OH) – Closed

Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame (Jackson, MS) – Closed

Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame (Halifax, NS) – Closed

Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame (Colorado Springs, CO) – Closed

Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (Knoxville, TN) – Closed

Basketball Hall of Fame (Springfield, MA) – Closed for renovations (5/1)

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum (Cincinnati, OH) – Closed

NASCAR Hall of Fame (Charlotte, NC) – Closed

Bobby Orr Hall of Fame (Parry Sound, ON) – Closed

Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (Cooperstown, NY) – Closed

World Golf Hall of Fame (St. Augustine, FL) – Closed

New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame (Fredericton, NB) – All tours cancelled

Racine Heritage Museum (Racine, WI) – Closed

December 11, 2019

Janice L. Ogurcak
Secretary, ISHA Board of Directors
Chair, ISHA Grant Committee

Dear Janice,

Thank you for selecting our organization to receive a registration grant for the
2019 ISHA conference in Wichita. As per all of the ISHA conferences we have
attended over the years, these are days we look forward to as staff with Curling
Canada.

Our organization does not have a bricks & mortar Hall of Fame or Museum, nor
is there any potential in the future. But we have moved our strategic planning
forward to ultimately create a mobile, digital and augmented reality experience
for our fan base and new fans at our events. And we have gotten to this point
because of our attendance at the ISHA conference and the things we have
learned from the sessions and the networking with vendors and other museums.
The ISHA conference has offered invaluable information and contacts about the
digital world and its place in the Hall of Fame or Museum industry.

In particular:
• SESSION 2: Oh, What a World!: gave us valuable insight as to the
preservation of our collection which we are very guilty of not doing!

• SESSION 3: Wizard of Ease: we are currently investigating the experience
of personal information tools via mini speakers and/or augmented reality via
mobile phones.

• SESSION 4: If We Only Had a Library: our takeaway was to look at how we
get writers, story-tellers, historians access to our small collection of books.

• SESSION 5: A Roadmap to Oz: this information was passed on to our own
Foundation including booking a session this winter with Golf Canada to listen
to their successes.

• SESSION 6: From Now On: we have recently licensed a new merchandiser.
This session gave us perspective on what we need to do.

• SESSION 8: I’ll Get You, My Pretty: We are working hard in this area in our
demographic issues so the information and the role playing we did at the
conference were indeed valuable.

This winter, a group of Curling Canada staff will be in charge of implementation
of a new, updated plan mainly because of the resources we accessed via ISHA.

Sincerely, and thank you again,

Danny Lamoureux

Curling Canada
Director, Curling Club Development & Championship Services
-2-

Town & Team: An Inseparable Bond

This exhibit tells the story of the strong bond between the Packers and the community they represent. Starting in the late 1920s and well into the 1960s, most players lived downtown or nearby and were everywhere to be seen by fans who might have idolized them but also gave them their space. More recently, the connection between town and team can be seen through the charitable work of both the players and the organization. This exhibit features Packers’ hang-outs and the communities’ commitment to support the team.

Admit One: The History of the Packers Tickets

This exhibit tells the story of how the Packers have always been the hot ticket in Green Bay, dating all the way back to a packed house in their first professional league game and continuing today at legendary Lambeau Field. It explores the history of Packers tickets being sold at various locations including the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Legion Park, and the downtown Packers office building. This exhibit also features memorable tickets at Lambeau Field such as Vince Lombardi’s first win, the Ice Bowl, the Instant Replay game, and the Monday Night Miracle.

Where We Started (Before)

As the official repository of the province’s professional football team, the Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame’s (SSHF) collection includes 265 regular season and playoff programs spanning close to 80 years. Each program was contained in a media plastic bag and then contained in a mismatched collection of non-archival quality magazine holders/boxes that did not adequately store and protect them. Nor did this storage system serve to maximize available storage space.

The Plan

To purchase 130 standard size acid-free lignin-free hinged lid containers to ensure the dust free, long-term preservation of the programs that would also maximize the use of vertical and lateral space within our storage area. As a secondary component of the project, all programs would be digitized and added to the Collective Access artifact database which would benefit access for in-house usage and external researcher access.

The Process

In the end 155 hinged lid containers were purchased over the course of 2 orders (July 30/18 and January 16/19). Due to a problem with the supplier, the first order of 130 boxes was not received until September 17/18 which meant that summer students were no longer available to assist with the complete transfer & digitization process. This resulted in some increased staffing costs for the SSHF, as well as a reassessment of the timing for the overall project. It was also determined as the project proceeded that the initial estimate for boxes required was a little short. This was mostly due to the inconsistent thickness of individual programs year-over-year and the inclusion of a number of one-off “special event”
programs in some years. This resulted in the 2nd order of 25 boxes being placed in early January which, thankfully, arrived expeditiously.

The transfer to a consistent sized archival quality box system has allowed us to maximize the shelving space in our main storage area, in addition to providing these priceless artifacts with a safe preservation system moving forward.

This project was completed in concert with the implementation of a new electronic cataloguing system, Collective Access, managed by the Saskatchewan Museums Association. The catalogue information for each item was updated as necessary in preparation for entry into this system. Collection pieces that had not yet been digitized were done so as part of the project. The final component of the process was to upload the digitized content into Collective Access. This has been the most time consuming component of the project due to the size of the digitized files and the (apparently) slow capacity of our high speed Internet connection.

The Budget Estimate Actual
Revenue:
ISHA Speical Project Grant ($2,000 US) $2,500 CAN$ $2,644 CAN$
Member Donations $500 $651.68
SSHF aid-in-kind Salaries/Benefits for Staff TBA $4,000
Expenses:
130 X H-10485 Hinged Lid Pamphlet (18.10 + taxes) $2,861.83
155 X H-10485 Hinged Lid Pamphlet (18.80 +taxes) $3,295.68
SSHF Salaries/Benefits TBA $4,000
TOTAL $2,861.83+ $7,295.68

 

As noted in our original application, the SSHF is prepared to cover all labour costs associated with this project. In addition, we are also prepared to cover the difference (if any) between the current currency
conversion between US and CAN funds and what it might be at such time as a cheque is issued.

Conclusion

The project has been a total success in the fact that we have met all of our stated objectives:

  • 265 artifacts were digitized (approximately 14,750 pages) and uploaded into Collective Access
  • All artifacts are now safely stored in acid free dustproof storage boxes
  • We have secured some additional useable storage capacity as a result of this transition

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame would like to extend their sincere thanks to the International
Sports Heritage Association for the significant contribution of funds through the Founders Fund Special
Project Grant which made this upgrade possible. It is much appreciated.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., will host the International Sports Heritage Association’s 50th annual conference from Oct. 21-23, 2020. This will be the fourth time ISHA has been to Newport for a conference – the most of any location. It also hosted in 1976, 1989 and 2012. The International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame, located in Kingston, R.I. also hosted, making this ISHA’s fifth visit to America’s smallest state.

Mark your calendars and click here to see what makes Newport such an attractive conference location.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (October 28, 2019) – Ron Watson, founder
president of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA), died
Sunday evening at the age of 72, leaving a legacy of remarkable
accomplishments in creating the MSHFA, then molding it into a respected
organization that honors all forms of motorsports.

Watson, a native of Bloomington, Indiana, was a resident of Ormond
Beach, Florida, along with his wife, Donna. They moved to Florida in 2016
when the MSHFA relocated from its longtime home in Detroit to Daytona
International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

“Our thoughts are with Ron’s families – his own family, plus the huge extended family the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America represents,” said speedway President Chip Wile. “His tireless work ethic and commitment to making the hall of fame part of this nation’s motorsports fabric were something to admire. He was a great business associate – and a better friend.”

The MSHFA is housed in the speedway’s Ticket and Tours Building where it greets more than 100,000 guests annually. Watson made the move happen, working with Daytona International Speedway and then-speedway President Joie Chitwood III. The relocation invigorated the MSHFA, which immediately became an integral part of the speedway’s immensely popular fan tours.

Prior to founding the MSHFA in 1989, Watson was a city councilman in Novi, Michigan (1977-89), including a stint as Novi Mayor Pro Tem (1981-85). Watson earned his undergraduate degree at Michigan State University and a law degree from Wayne State University. He practiced law from 1972-93. He was scheduled to retire from his position as MSHFA President in April, 2020 and be replaced by longtime MSHFA Board of Directors member George Levy. That transition had yet to be announced, having been
approved by the board earlier this fall.

“Ron felt that motorsports needed a great hall of fame,” said Levy, “then worked tirelessly for the next 30-plus years to make that dream a reality. In so doing he built an institution that’s respected the world over and became himself one of the most important voices in the sport. He will be deeply missed by everyone who knew him.”

In addition to Donna, Watson is survived in his immediate family by their children, a daughter Stephanie (Ted), son Brendan (Kate) and their beloved grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America: The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) conducted its first induction ceremony in 1989; the facility was located in Novi, Mich., from 1989 through 2015 and relocated to Daytona Beach, Fla, in 2016. The MSHFA is the only hall of fame that encompasses the full spectrum of American motorsports: cars, motorcycles, off-road, powerboats and airplanes. The overriding mission of the MSHFA is to celebrate and instill the American core values of leadership, creativity, originality, teamwork and spirit of competition embodied in motorsports. The MSHFA is operated by the non-profit Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame of America Foundation, Inc. Learn more at www.MSHF.com.

The International Sports Heritage Association (ISHA) is pleased to announce its 2019 ISHY Award winners. The nine winners were presented their ISHY trophy on October 24, 2019 during An Evening of Champions dinner at the group’s annual conference hosted by the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

The 2019 ISHY winners are:

“The Top 15: Nova Scotia’s Greatest Athletes” by the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame

“Spirit of Sport Magazine” by The Sport Australia Hall of Fame

“Patriots Hall of Fame Bobbleheads” by the Patriots Hall of Fame Presented by Raytheon

“The Story of the Little League Patch” by World of Little League Museum and Official Store

“Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame Facebook” by the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame

“Future Hall of Famers Education Program: Grade 5 Cross-Curricular Package” by the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame

“2018 Canadian Golf Hall of Fame Induction Materials” by the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame

“2019 World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Materials” by the World Golf Hall of Fame

“Courting Fashion Digital Exhibit” by the International Tennis Hall of Fame

“Indigenous Sport Gallery” by the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame

“Museum Renovations” by the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum

Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame took home the top-prize for “Best in Show”, as voted on by conference
attendees, for their publication, “The Top 15: Nova Scotia’s Greatest Athletes”

The ISHY Awards program was established to provide recognition for excellence in publications by all
member sports museums, halls of fame or sports heritage organizations, regardless of size or budget,
based upon a competition evaluated by ISHA members and communications professionals.

ISHY Award applications are available through the ISHA website with a closing date of June 30th. Further
information about how to apply for a 2020 ISHY will be available in the spring.